A major MMA prospect has decided to sign with Bellator instead of the UFC and the Reebok deal may have had something to do with it.

Ed Ruth, who is a three-time national wrestling champion and four-time all American, has decided to go with Bellator MMA

The Penn State wrestler talked to MMAFighting about his decision and revealed that sponsorships did come into play.

“I’ve known for a long time now that after I get Olympic gold around my neck, I was going to go get some MMA gold for my waist. I’ve been talking with all the major organizations, and at the end of the day, I really believe in what Scott Coker is doing with Bellator. They’re signing the top talent, they’re putting on exciting fights, and they’re letting me secure my own sponsors.

“It will be a little while until I step into the cage for the first time, but when I do, everyone they put in front of me is in for a world of hurt.”

Is this the first step in top talent going elsewhere because of the UFC’s Reebok deal?

People have been talking about this dude for YEARS. He might change his mind depending on how fast the UFC handles the Reebok situation after he's built his own name up in MMA, but this is AS REAL AS IT GETS

So we're getting hyped on somebody who might not debut until sometime in 2017?

We should. He's going to enter the sport with the same athletic credentials that Cejudo had and it only took 2 years for Cejudo to look like one of the best fighters in his weight class. He'll also still be a young guy when he makes his debut.

Logged

koab [8:27 PM]damn i thought you guys were good little cucks who would shit themselfs so a POC could peacefully protest

I know who Ruth is and it's certainly awesome he's transitioning to mma but nobody's going to remember this news a month from now and for all we know the Reebok deal will be greatly restructured by that point.

Rogan took Schaub to task when Brendan tried to downplay the effects of all the knockouts he's suffered inside the cage, don't recall their being a discussion about Reebok. All I remember clearly is Joe telling him that Cain or JDS would fuck him up and the awkward silences.

Dana White went on some show and was asked about Schaub saying he was making 6 figures per fight from sponsors and Dana said flat out that Schaub was a liar.

Schaub was on Joe Rogan's fight companion show this morning and Rogan said Schaub brought the sponsor agreements and showed them to Rogan and they confirmed that Schaub was telling the truth. Schaub said Dana pretty much just read the names off of his banner which mostly weren't even sponsors, just names of gyms he'd trained with. He said Dana also named some company that has never sponsored him and he wasn't even sure what it was. Rogan encouraged him to post those documents somewhere, but it seemed like he didn't want to make a scene.

The fighter will wear a Reebok uniform inside the cage, along with one UFC-mandated sponsor to accompany it.

Quote

Cerrone, fortunately, has deals with UFC-affiliated sponsors Fram & Budweiser. Both companies are event sponsors for the UFC and will be one of the select companies that will be featured along with Reebok on a fighter's uniform. Those exclusive deals should help Cerrone recoup some of his losses, but he is admittedly one of the lucky ones.

I didn't hear about this. Will Fram, Budweiser or anyone else the UFC allows to be on the uniforms and make up some of the pay for these guys?

The fighter will wear a Reebok uniform inside the cage, along with one UFC-mandated sponsor to accompany it.

Quote

Cerrone, fortunately, has deals with UFC-affiliated sponsors Fram & Budweiser. Both companies are event sponsors for the UFC and will be one of the select companies that will be featured along with Reebok on a fighter's uniform. Those exclusive deals should help Cerrone recoup some of his losses, but he is admittedly one of the lucky ones.

I didn't hear about this. Will Fram, Budweiser or anyone else the UFC allows to be on the uniforms and make up some of the pay for these guys?

The UFC mandated sponsor pays the UFC, not the fighters.

No, I am not joking.

Logged

koab [8:27 PM]damn i thought you guys were good little cucks who would shit themselfs so a POC could peacefully protest

FWIW Cerrone is cool with the Reebok deal but I assume that's because of the amount of fights he's had in the UFC coupled with the fact that he's sponsored by Fram and Budweiser which are two Zuffa-approved sponsors.

"Me and my manager did a balance and saw that we will lose a lot of money because of this deal. We lose around R$ 40000 (about US $15000) monthly. This Rebook deal is hard for people who have lots of sponsors, because is restrains a lot, and sponsors can pay the amount they would normally to be exposed at a fight, when the athlete gives them the major return."

"We're talking to Joe Silva so we can get that back and not lose that much. It's the last fight of my contract, and I know I have a good fight so I can renew it and we can recover this money we are losing. We are planning this, and the talks are good, it's hard but we're trying"

Rumors floating that the Reebok deal was done to help make the UFC more presentable to sell off. The Fertitta's Casino corporation is also making moves to become publicly traded.

let's take it to the Reebok thread!

the UFC would be better off with new owners who actually know how to grow a business at that level. There's no value in buying the UFC if you're not planning on operating it, so as long as the new ownership group has a legit successful financial history, a sale would be good with me.

Oh man with new ownership does that mean the shitty numetal card theme is gone? It's incredible to think how something as insignificant as that in the presentation still brings to mind how the company hasn't evolved since it first blew up a decade ago.

The UFC return of former lightweight No. 1 contender T.J. Grant remains very much in doubt.

According to a recent report in the Regina Leader-Post, Grant has taken a job in a potash mine near Bethune, Saskatchewan, in order to support his family.

“To be honest I haven’t really worked a regular job since maybe 2005,” Grant told the Leader-Post. “Basically, I’ve gotta make a living. When you’re injured it’s one of those sports where you can live off what you made for a little bit, but we don’t make that much money so you have to go on to other things.”

The dude made 235k over a year and a half and I'm suppose to feel sorry for him that he got a job 2-3 years later? It sucks he can't fight anymore, don't get me wrong, but the dude made decent money for fighting a handful of times.

At what point do we say, hey fighter, you SHOULD get paid more...but maybe you should invest better?

The truth of the matter is a lot of the UFC fights do have part-time gigs outside of fighting. These gigs include teaching/owning at gyms, doing media appearances and sponsorship that you don't see come fight time. And from what I've been told first hand from UFC fighters, Dana and the Fertittas take care of you if they like you.

Is the Reebok deal taking away from the banners that the fighters have at the cage?

The truth of the matter is a lot of the UFC fights do have part-time gigs outside of fighting. These gigs include teaching/owning at gyms, doing media appearances and sponsorship that you don't see come fight time. And from what I've been told first hand from UFC fighters, Dana and the Fertittas take care of you if they like you.

Is the Reebok deal taking away from the banners that the fighters have at the cage?

No sponsors on banners at cageside, IIRC.

Teaching/training is extremely hard to make a decent living at it, in fact many guys go broke opening a gym. That's not a realistic outcome, there's not this huge market for mma gyms. These guys aren't necessarily good coaches who should be teaching at even someone else's gym, they're supposed to be fighters so this shouldn't even be a requirement. Can you imagine if after Eli Manning struggled in his rookie year, the Giants said "well we'll pay you minimum wage now, gotta prove you're worthy" and he took a side job teaching QB camps in order to keep following his NFL dream? How can anyone look at the way UFC fighters are treated compared to other sports and not have a complete lack of respect for them?

He didn't just make that money fighting a handful of times, he busted ass for years and years to get that opportunity. The point is he didn't just fight, he fought at a high level and won. He was the cream of the crop, there's a difference between TJ Grant fighting five times and Cezar Mutante fighting five times, TJ Grant is a world class fighter. 235k over a year and a half before taxes and expenses for that kind of performance is a joke. If a guy who is a title contender is paid like 7x less than the league MINIMUM in real sports, imagine what guys below him are paid.

Also there's no indication TJ Grant was poor with his money, that's a strawman.

I get why most keep arguing against the fighters, they don't wanna rock the boat. Also, they don't give a shit about fair pay (HEY YOU MADE SIX FIGURES LAST YEAR BRO THATS MORE THAN ME SHUTUP STOP WHINING). But forget about ethics and just think about it as a fan who likes fights; there's not going to be much of a sport if there isn't an incentive for athletes to enter.

I mean really, 235k is a lot of money for that kind of work? He is risking his brain and health every time he steps in there against a highly trained killer (he wasn't fighting bums), putting a lot of work in the gym and doing it in front of a shitload of people. He's worth a lot more than that, and if you want to keep replacing him with fresh talent you better do something about it.

Why do you think Cro Cop, Dan Henderson, Mark Hunt, Anthony Johnson, Vitor Belfort are still main eventing in 2015? Where are all the young bucks? It's okay, there will be very few if any great fighters above 185 because anyone who is a good enough athlete will just pick a sport where they can actually make money.

UFC fighters get about 10% of the revenues that Zuffa brings in. In other sports, it's usually 50/50. In boxing, it's 70/30. I would love to hear a justification for the UFC's number.

I dunno if this is necessarily the thread for this but I found it pretty interesting (and surprising) that Tom Duquesnoy has decided to re-sign with BAMMA rather then test his skills in the UFC. I haven't read anything that indicates that the Reebok deal was a tipping point but I think it probably had something to do with it.

The truth of the matter is a lot of the UFC fights do have part-time gigs outside of fighting. These gigs include teaching/owning at gyms, doing media appearances and sponsorship that you don't see come fight time. And from what I've been told first hand from UFC fighters, Dana and the Fertittas take care of you if they like you.

Is the Reebok deal taking away from the banners that the fighters have at the cage?

No sponsors on banners at cageside, IIRC.

Teaching/training is extremely hard to make a decent living at it, in fact many guys go broke opening a gym. That's not a realistic outcome, there's not this huge market for mma gyms. These guys aren't necessarily good coaches who should be teaching at even someone else's gym, they're supposed to be fighters so this shouldn't even be a requirement. Can you imagine if after Eli Manning struggled in his rookie year, the Giants said "well we'll pay you minimum wage now, gotta prove you're worthy" and he took a side job teaching QB camps in order to keep following his NFL dream? How can anyone look at the way UFC fighters are treated compared to other sports and not have a complete lack of respect for them?

He didn't just make that money fighting a handful of times, he busted ass for years and years to get that opportunity. The point is he didn't just fight, he fought at a high level and won. He was the cream of the crop, there's a difference between TJ Grant fighting five times and Cezar Mutante fighting five times, TJ Grant is a world class fighter. 235k over a year and a half before taxes and expenses for that kind of performance is a joke. If a guy who is a title contender is paid like 7x less than the league MINIMUM in real sports, imagine what guys below him are paid.

Also there's no indication TJ Grant was poor with his money, that's a strawman.

I get why most keep arguing against the fighters, they don't wanna rock the boat. Also, they don't give a shit about fair pay (HEY YOU MADE SIX FIGURES LAST YEAR BRO THATS MORE THAN ME SHUTUP STOP WHINING). But forget about ethics and just think about it as a fan who likes fights; there's not going to be much of a sport if there isn't an incentive for athletes to enter.

I mean really, 235k is a lot of money for that kind of work? He is risking his brain and health every time he steps in there against a highly trained killer (he wasn't fighting bums), putting a lot of work in the gym and doing it in front of a shitload of people. He's worth a lot more than that, and if you want to keep replacing him with fresh talent you better do something about it.

Why do you think Cro Cop, Dan Henderson, Mark Hunt, Anthony Johnson, Vitor Belfort are still main eventing in 2015? Where are all the young bucks? It's okay, there will be very few if any great fighters above 185 because anyone who is a good enough athlete will just pick a sport where they can actually make money.

UFC fighters get about 10% of the revenues that Zuffa brings in. In other sports, it's usually 50/50. In boxing, it's 70/30. I would love to hear a justification for the UFC's number.

Sorry bruh but they can go get a REAL JOB... I'm sure Florian BJ & Hughes can return if it gets too bad. THERES ALSO THE KOSCHECKS TO HOLD IT DOWN UNTIL "DO YOU WANNA BE A FUCKING FIGHTER??!!" STUDS RETURN TO THIS SPORT.

I'm an angel. I kill firstborns while their mamas watch. I turn cities into salt. I even, when I feel like it, rip the souls from little girls, and from now till kingdom come, the only thing you can count on in your existence is never understandingwhy.